Forget NuScale: This Nuclear Energy Stock Is the Smarter Bet Right Now

NuScale (NYSE: SMR), a developer of small modular reactors (SMRs), went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on May 3, 2022. Its stock opened at $10.70 per share and eventually rose to a record high of $53.43 on Oct. 15, 2025.

At the time, investors were excited about the growth potential of NuScale's SMRs, which are much smaller than conventional nuclear reactors. They're prefabricated and assembled on-site to reduce the time, labor, and costs of deploying a nuclear power plant. NuScale's SMR generates only 77 MWe, whereas a conventional nuclear plant typically generates over 1,000 MWe. However, multiple SMRs can be deployed together to construct higher-capacity plants.

Image source: Getty Images.

But today, NuScale's stock trades at about $10. Its shares pulled back because it canceled its flagship U.S. commercial deployment project in Idaho in 2023, delayed its first commercial reactor deployments in Romania from 2030 to 2033, and racked up steep losses. Fluor (NYSE: FLR), which had worked with NuScale in Romania and owned more than half of NuScale's shares before its public debut, also liquidated its entire position earlier this year.

NuScale previously generated most of its revenue from its front-end engineering and design (FEED) work on its RoPower project in Romania, but that project ended in late 2025. Without a comparable project to fill that void, its revenue plunged in the first half of 2026. For the full year, analysts expect its revenue to decline 21% to $25 million with a net loss of $181 million.

With a market cap of $4.2 billion, NuScale trades at 169 times this year's sales. Instead of wondering whether it will ever justify its bubbly valuations, I believe it's smarter to invest in a larger, better-diversified nuclear company. That stock is BWX Technologies (NYSE: BWXT).

Why is BWX Technologies a better nuclear stock?

BWX, which was spun off from Babcock & Wilcox (NYSE: BW) in 2015, is the only large-scale manufacturer of specialized nuclear components, fuel systems, and naval reactor systems in North America. It's also one of the few companies cleared to work with regulated nuclear materials, handle high-assay enriched uranium (HALEU) and tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel, and supply naval reactor components to the U.S. Navy.

BWX's scale and diversification give it a wide moat and plenty of pricing power. It controls irreplaceable parts of North America's nuclear supply chain, and it generates most of its revenue from the defense sector. Its focus on government and military customers insulated it from the decade-long slowdown in commercial nuclear spending after the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

Unlike NuScale, which is still at least seven years away from its first commercial deployments, BWX already generates predictable revenue and profits. From 2021 to 2025, its revenue grew at an 11% CAGR from $2.1 billion to $3.2 billion, while its EPS rose at a 3% CAGR. At the end of 2025, its backlog reached $7.3 billion -- a 50% increase from a year earlier -- amid the resurgent demand for nuclear energy.

From 2025 to 2028, analysts expect its revenue and EPS to grow at CAGRs of 12% and 16%, respectively. Several catalysts will drive that growth: more orders from the U.S. Navy, the commercial sector's recovery, the expansion of its uranium processing business, and its integration of two major acquisitions (Kinectrics in 2025 and Precision Components Group in 2026). BWX also provides engineering support services to SMR developers, which gives it some exposure to NuScale's core market with far less risk.

At $153 per share with a market cap of $14 billion, BWX trades at four times this year's sales and 35 times this year's earnings. It isn't a screaming bargain yet, but it's a much safer play on the nuclear market than NuScale.

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends BWX Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends NuScale Power. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.